Luke O'Nien reveals truth behind Sunderland's dressing room 'rifts' - and assesses their top two hopes

Recent weeks have seen various rumours circulate of cliques within the group, and they were only amplified by Phil Parkinson’s decision to banish Aiden McGeady last week – citing both on and off-field reasons for his decision.

But O’Nien insists the departure of the winger – who is free to leave the Stadium of Light in January – has not affected the dressing room’s focus as some important fixtures appear on the horizon.

“I think in football, everyone has experienced that - players come and go all the time,” he admitted.

“Whether that’s through injury or some people leave, that’s just part and parcel of football.

“The squad chops and changes here and there and it’s important that you keep the nucleus of the club close and keep it constant. That nucleus has good morals and ethics that it tries to live by every day and drive the club forward.

“Regardless of the chopping and changing, you’ve got to stay focused. It might not always be easy - you saw it last year with [Josh] Maja going, an important player - but it’s part and parcel of football so you just have to work with it.”

And while rumours of rifts abound, O’Nien maintains that there is a mutual respect present in the changing room at the Academy of Light, with players well aware of the responsibilities on their shoulders.

“We’re all responsible for contributing to the dressing room,” added the midfielder.

“From the young players to the senior players. It’s all our responsibility to make sure we’re pulling in the right direction.

“We’re all going to need to step up, some more than others, at different parts of the season and when you’re having a tough time it’s important that leaders come forward. Even the young players, I think Denver (Hume) and Dobbo (George Dobson) have been our strongest players this season, and even those two can have a voice.

“I think everyone respects each other at this club and it’s important - especially when it’s tough - that people try and lead us back in the right direction, and I feel like we have that in the dressing room.

“We’ve got the characters, the experience, the youth, where if we all pull in the right direction we’re not just going to have a good season, we’ll have a great season.”

At the moment, a ‘great’ season seems a long way away.

The Black Cats sit nine points adrift of the top two in League One after a run of form which has yielded just two wins from 13 outings.

But O’Nien has enough experience of the third tier to know that there are twists and turns aplenty to come, has backed the Black Cats to climb the table in the coming weeks – and hasn’t ruled out a late assault on the top two.

“Everyone is up there in our league at the moment, it’s quite tight,” he said.

“We’ve been on a bad run of form and we’re not a long away from Ipswich. That goes to show that if we can go on a big run, which we’re more than capable of, then there will be no problem.

“We’re not only looking at the play-off spots, but above and beyond.

“I’ve seen teams go on a 10, 15-game unbeaten run and sneak into the automatics at the end of the season. Charlton shot up last year and if they had a few more games they might have even gone up automatically.

“Listen, there’s a long way to go. We’re not even halfway through so it’s too early to say they’re up and they’re not. There’s a long, long way to go.”

O’Nien has been a regular under new manager Parkinson, whose start to life at the Stadium of Light has been far from ideal.

Fans have been quick in calling for a change in the dugout, with Sunderland now having gone eight games without a win.

And while he understands why fans are clamouring for a change, O’Nien believes that the work being done by Parkinson and his staff behind the scenes will reap rewards in the long-term.

“The new manager is a good man and I’ve really enjoyed working under him,” he added.

“I’ve been a part of every single day and I know how hard they work and what they want from us. When results aren’t going our way, it’s not always easy to see things like that.

“I understand why there would be [complaints from supporters], but I think with time you can see things starting to change.”